Building bonds
by xBiteMyPicklex
Summary: Nick hated Ellis. I mean Hated him. But what will a little time alone do to the gamblers' brain? What things will happen?
1. Hard Rain

**~Chapter 1: Hard Rain~**

What was happening?  
How did this even make since?  
One minute we are being eaten alive by bugs, and trekking knee deep in mud.  
Now this shit?  
Rain?  
_Really_?  
Out of all things, it just_ HAD_ to be fucking rain.  
Great. That's just great.  
As if the rain wasn't bad enough, impairing your vision, making it nearly fucking_ IMPOSSIBLE_ to hear_ ANYONE._  
There was a tank... _**Perfect!**_

" 'Ho shit man, run!" Was all I could hear as the hick ran past, nearly knocking me over. One hand holding his shot gun, the other clutching that stupid hat to his head. I turned in the direction the kid was going, and squinted my eyes. Goddamn rain. The ground began to tremble beneath me, a loud roar emitting into the air. I focused my attention back to where the noise was coming from, and held my breath as a giant block of cement flew past my head.

" Tits!" I spun on my heels, and ran the direction Ellis had sped off to. I didn't see him, Coach, OR Ro. This was bad.

" Nick! Hey Nick over here man,hurry!" Ellis was standing at the end of the street, quickly motioning me to him. I heard the sound of gun fire, and looked back to see Coach, and Ro shooting, and shouting to get the tanks' attention from on top of a building. It worked. The tank went for the bait. " C'mon man! This way!" Ellis firmly grasped my arm. Damn did he have a grip. He led me down another street, only letting go when he knew I; being the older of us two, could keep up. "Were almost there man! We jus' gotta get tew tha' latter an' we'll be home free!" He said while pointing a little ways down the road, to an alley. Where on the side of a building, a latter sat. Thing looked rusted to shit. It was one of them old fire escapes. It'd probably break as soon as we touched it. Or maybe not since it seemed Coaches' fat ass made it up just fine. Out of a nearby alley came a very deranged, VERY pissed off tank. Great. Ellis must not have seen the GIANT ASS cement block being chucked his way. When it landed just a few feet in front of him, he stumbled back in shock. Losing his footing on broken chunks of the road, and fell back onto the hood of a car. Oh and of course As I thought this day couldn't possibly get ANY worse. The car had its alarm system on. PERFECT!  
"This is just great." I thought, hitting any zombies that came our way. Boy was this shit getting old. It was strange though. There were less of the fuckers around me than normal.

"N-Nick!"

I turned to see why in the hell the kid was yelling for me at a time like this. Oh.. That's why. The hick was being dragged away by a Smoker. The damn thing had it's rancid tongue wrapped around the kids legs. Goddammit Ellis. I killed off the remaining zombies around me, and quickly went to help my poor damsel in distress. Ellis was clawing frantically at the ground to try to keep from getting dragged even further away, out of ear shot. I lopped off the bile tongue with one swing of my axe, and started helping the kid up.  
"Is that a tear I see overalls?" I grinned at him while hoisting him to his feet.

"Hell no I aint cryin'!"

"Good, we can't have you babying out on us now." I shoved his gun back into his hands.  
"Come one overalls, we gotta get go-" Next thing I know, i'm on my back with a goddamn piece of asfault on my right leg! "What in the hell?!" Oh right.. The Tank.

"C'mon man! Help me get this thing off'a ya!"

"Alright kid. On the count of three. One.. Two.. THREE!" We both pushed on the heavy load as hard as we could. It wouldn't budge. The Tank was closing in fast, and we were running out of options. Damn did this thing hurt. I could feel the warm crimson liquid pooling around my legs. This is bad. Where the HELL is Coach and Ro?! I peered at Ellis, still struggling to get the damned thing off my leg. Dammit. "Kid.. You gotta get going before the Tank gets you down too." He looked at me as if I had 3 heads. The rain wasn't letting up any, actually by the looks of it, it was falling harder now. We had to yell just to hear each other.

"Wh-What? Hello no. Hell no! I aint leavin' you behind Nick. No way! No fuckin-"

"Listen overalls, if you don't get moving soon; that damn hunk of flesh will kill us both! I'll be fine Sport. Most likely he'll just pass me, and keep going for you. Wh-While you're running i'll throw this Boomer bile on him. We'll hold out until he dies, and wait for the others here. Yo-You have to do it kid!" The pain was really starting to register in my brain, I propped myself up on my elbows, boomer jar in hand, trying to remain conscious from how much blood I was loosing. It wouldn't be long, we had to do this now. Ellis just kept staring at me for a little while longer. He slowly nodded his head. A look of determination on his face, that up until now; I had never really seen before.

"Awright." He rose to his feet, and grabbed his AK on the ground next to me. It only had a few more rounds left in it. This could work.. IF done right. The ground began to tremble as our empending doom barreled to us for the second time that day. Ellis quickly patted me on the shoulder, and padded off in the opposite direction.

"Good luck kid." The Tank; just as I thought; followed quickly behind him. Running past me with frightening speed. I chucked the jar as hard as I could at the massive infected. It shattered, spilling bile all over its' rotting flesh. I got him. "Yes!" I shouted, and threw my fist in the air with excitement. Bad idea Nick. I groaned loudly as my leg shifted slightly under the boulder. Holding onto my throbbing thigh, I watched as Ellis and the massive beast disappeared behind a sheet of rain and fog. Or was that my eyes clouding with defeat? My eyes. Defiantly my eyes. Slowly, everything went dark.


	2. A Little Down Time

Hey guys!

Thanks for all the Follows and views! I was a little apprehensive about posting this because I didn't know how it would work out. But since things seem to be going well, i'm going to continue on with the story. Again, thanks everyone!

~Chapter 2: A Little Down Time.

I woke with a start in a cold sweat. My eyes searched frantically around the unfamiliar room. I was terrified to say the least. But quickly calmed as a gentle hand patted a warm rag to my cheeks and forehead. I looked to see who the stranger was, seeing a smiling Rochelle. "Hey sweetie, you managed to get pretty banged up out there." I sat up slowly, she removed the rag from my face. I shut my eyes tightly, and rubbed them, opening them once again once I felt my eyes adjusted to the light.

"How.." I swallowed hard. "How long was I out?" My voice sounded alien as it croked out of my dry throat. She sat in a chair beside the bed, rolling her neck, and letting out a sigh.

"About two days" My eyes went wide.

"Two days?!" She nodded. I slumped back, my voice getting a little quieter as it all sunk in. "Two fucking days.."

"Yup! We found you passed out, and Coach got that boulder off your leg. We thought we'd never get that thing off!" She giggled lightly. "But we finally got you free, and found a safe house. Good thing it had med kits huh?" I looked down at my now bandaged right leg. My eyes widened once more. Ellis. She didn't say anything about Ellis! I swallowed a lump in my throat, and opened my mouth to speak

"Where uh.. Where. Where is Ellis?" she stared at me for a long time, panic setting into the pit of my stomach. She then let out a small giggle, and pointed her finger to the opposite side of the bed. I glanced over to find a very beat down, very asleep Ellis. He was slouched in a chair, legs open, head tilted back, and mouth slightly open, breathing softly.

"He hasn't moved from that spot since we brought you back. He came back to your body after killing the Tank. He was limping pretty bad, and clutching his stomach. He had to be in some pain. But he still insisted that he'd be the one to carry you to the next safe room. He wouldn't even trade off with Coach when he offered. Then, he refused to leave this bedside, so we brought him in a chair, he must have dozed off. She stared at the kid as she spoke, slight worry in her eyes. "we figured we'd just let him sleep, since he hasn't in so long. We all need it really." The room fell silent again. Then, Rochelle finally spoke. "I don't know why. I honestly don't think i'll ever know." She shrugged and shook her head, then looked to me. "He looks up to you, He trusts you. Hell, he practically praises you. You of all people." She shook her head again and sighed. "What i'm trying to say is; don't ruin it. He's the only reason were letting you stick around. We don't trust you, but Ellis would have a fit. Don't give Ellis a reason not to trust you." And with that she left. The only reason they're letting me stick around? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Did they not want me to stay here?

"Pfft." I sighed and ran a hand through my greasy hair. Pushing back any stray hairs. I sat up with a slight wince. Man did my body hurt. I'm getting too damn old for this. I looked at Ellis' sleeping form, and poked his thigh with my foot. He didn't move. "Ellis." I poked him again. He stirred a little. "Ellis!" I poked him harder. He jumped up, grabbing his ax that was laying against the base of the chair, and looked around frantically.

"Huh wha?!" His eyes focused on me. "Morning sleeping beauty." I teased. He pursed his lips, and looked at me. "Mornin' asshole." He grinned, with no real bite. Ellis learned to just take my insults as a joke. (No matter how serious or not I was.)

A Few Hours Later.

Ellis and I ate what little rations that Coach was able to find around the safe room we were in that night. This place was more like a house than those one roomed safe rooms that I always hated. This was nice for once. We ate our beans in a can in the light of the one lantern we had in the far corner of the room. Coach and Ro were in another room, probably eating their rations too. This was always how it was when we seldom found these multiple roomed safe rooms. coach and Ro would resign to one room, Ellis and me in another. This was also our sleeping arrangements. We were both perched on each end of the bed. I was leaned against the headboard, pillows stacked behind my back to prop me up. Ellis was at the foot of the bed, seated indian style, scarfing down his can of beans. I didn't blame him much though, we hadn't eaten in days. The room was silent, only the sound of metal forks against metal cans were heard. For some odd reason, I wasn't hungry anymore. I set my half eaten can on the crate next to the bed, and watched as Ellis ate, I examined his face. It was pretty beat up, and pale. He had a pretty bad looking blackeye, it was swollen and purple. He also had a deep gash on the bridge of his nose, who knows where that came from. Ellis' face was dirty, but his bright blue eyes shown with hope. He wasn't wearing his hat, so his brown curly locks were tussled upon his head, all matted with blood. We all needed a shower, bad. We did smell exactly.. Well, maybe we did. We would have gotten used to the smell by now. Ellis let out a small yawn, and stretched his arms. The bottom of his shirt raising up, exposing the peach fuzz of his happy trail. I quickly busied myself with looking at the faded pictures on the walls. Then focused my attention back to the kid. He was staring at me. I raised a questioning brow.

"What?" I asked with no real bite. He squirmed slightly, and scratched the back of his head.

"Nutin' man. Jus' thinkin' is all."


	3. Hardships

~Chapter 3: Team Bonding~

"About what?" I tried to sound uninterested as I shifted my legs to try and get into a more comfortable position, because; knowing Ellis; this was going to be a LONG story.

"Jus' 'bout my Maw, my brother Luke, and mah buddy Keith." He stared at his hands. I knew something was wrong. He wasn't his normal, chipper self. Over the past few months Ellis had grown on me. In all honesty, I enjoyed the kids company. It was a little uplifting, his always happy go lucky attitude, and that blinding smile of his. Would I ever admit that? Fuck no. Although now, sitting in this room, I could tell something had changed in him. I looked at him again, he was still staring at his hands, as if trying to find answers on its calloused surface.

"What about the sport?" He glanced at me, as if I startled him out of a trance.

"Huh? .. Oh! Uh.. Nutin' man. Jus' y'know."

"No. I don't know, and I'll never know unless you tell me." I crossed my arms in front of my chest, staring at him. He stared back at me for a few moments, contemplating weather to tell me or not. Then he sighed.

"It's jus'.. Hard y'know? All of.. This." He waved his hands in the air before settling them back in his lap. There was another large pause. "I was livin' with my Maw and Luke when all this shit started happenin'. I came home from the mechanic shop one day, me workin' there and all. I saw my Maw sitting at the kitchen table, she had a wrap around her forearm. I asked her what happened, an' she told me she was walkin' home from the Grocery store, when out of nowhere a guy came.." He swallowed hard. "Came sprinting at her! He grabbed her, she thought he was gonna take her purse or somethin'. Nope, he jus' bit her. She said the poor son of'a bitch must have been out of his mind." He chuckled weakly. "After tha' Maw jus' kept gettin' more an' more sick. After 2 days she couldn't really walk anymore! While this was goin' on, my older brother Luke an' I were seein' more cases jus' like Maws' on the TV an' shit." He looked up at me, his baby blues glinting in the dim light. "I couldn't believe what was happinin'. I mean, it didn't make any since y'know?" Ellis went silent again. Then his face went grim.

"Ellis." He kept staring at the sheets. "Ellis!" He jumped a bit, startled.

"O-Oh yeah. Anyway. I came home early from work one afternoon because, we were to be evacuated, the streets were crazy! There were people running. Screaming. All hell had broke loose it seemed. I ran home as fast as I could. I had a feelin' in my stomach y'know? That feelin' when y'know something real bad's gonna happin'? Boy was I right.." His words trailed off, and he looked at me. "When I got home I ran through the door, an' next thing I know i'm on mah back! I had slipped and fell in sompin'. It was real warm and sticky. When I got up I looked at mah hands, an' saw it was blood. Mah heart started beatin' real fast man! I jogged down the hell yellin' for my Maw an' Luke. Tha's when I saw Luke lyin' in the livin' room, Keith came runnin' in behind me. I never seen Keith so scared in mah whole life. He jus' broke down right there man, he started cryin' an' askin' why it wasn't him an shit. He was holdin' Lukes body, an' he wouldn't let go! I kept tryin' ta pull him away, tellin' him tha' we needed to get movin' an' stuff. But he wouldn't let go of Luke man.." Ellis fell silent once again. So I decided it was my turn to ask.

"Was Luke and Keith really good friends?" He looked up at me with a half hearted smile on his face. Damn did he look hurt. I never seen Ellis like this before. So sad, so... Scared.

"Well, you could say tha'." He sighed and shifted so that he was hugging his knees.

"What do you mean?" I raised a questioning brow.

"Luke an' Keith were.. Well, ta put it simply they were.." He fidgeted with his overalls, avoiding eye contact. "They was together, like.. Datin' an' stuff. When Maw found out she was so pissed man, ya wouldn't believe. In Georgia it's real bad ta' be a Queer. They'll have ya beat for sure." He fidgeted a bit more, like he was hiding something.

"Did you still love your brother after he told you he was Gay?" I sat up while asking this, wincing a little.

"Well hell yea'! I aint like those damn pricks back home! I have SOME class!" He glared at me, anger bubbling within him.

"Hey hey Ellis. Ellis." I put my hands in front of me defensivly. "It's ok sport. I never said you were. Calm down." I put my hands down. Slowly. Cautiously. He just kept glaring at me, but his face slowly softened.

"I-I'm sorry Nick. I jus'.. People can be crule is all." The room fell silent, this silence hurt. It was almost suffocating. Yet, I felt something welling up inside me. Was this guilt? Was I feeling bad for this hick? No. Hell no. No going soft now Nicky boy. I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. I glanced up at Ellis, his back was turned to me. When had he turned around? His shoulders were trembling. Is he.. Crying? Godammit. I huffed. I'm terrible at cheering people up.

I touched his shoulder. "Ellis."

He sniffled and turned to face me, whiping his face. "M' sorry Nick." He laughed half heartedly. "I prolly look like a whimp." He laughed a bit more. "Fuck." He sputtered, lips trembling. He just kept whiping his face. It was sad really. I reached my arms out slowly. Hesitantly. I wrapped them around his waist, and pulled him against my chest. His body was warm, but stiff. He had stiffened when I grabbed him, a slight gasp escaping from his trembling lips. He stopped crying. I guided one of my hands up his back, and through the back of his hair to rest at the base of his skull.

"If you tell anyone about this i'll shoot you." I whispered with a slight laugh. He chuckled a bit and hugged me, pressing his face into my shoulder. _Ellis._


	4. The Big City

**~Chapter 4: The Big** **City.~**

The next few days seemed to drag on.  
Nothing eventful really happened.  
There were a few walkers here and there, but not many.  
We had finally made it to New Orleans. One would think since we were in a big city, there would be mass amounts of infected.  
There wasn't.  
It was strange to me at first, but I decided to brush it off. No need to worry myself, since we were in any _real _danger.  
It was Hot. Damn was it Hot. The suns' unforgiving rays bore down on us like we had just stumbled into the gates of hell.  
The asphalt we were walking on made little waves of heat as we glided along. I could almost bet that if we stood in one spot for an extended period of time that our shoes would melt to the ground. How the weather could change so fast is beyond me. I just wanted this damn heat to go away. I could also go for a Smoke too, but neither of those things seemed to be happening anytime soon. So I decided to busy myself with taking off my jacket. I could feel the hick glancing at me from the corner of his eye. I smirked, this was _**very**_amusing. Rochelle had already taken her shirt off, sporting only her bra, the pink cloth dangling from her back pocket. But Ellis chose to look at me? I guess we know who's more attractive now eh bitch? I grinned, thinking to myself. Alas the grin quickly faded when I saw Coach had undone some of the buttons on his purple polo, and his chest hair was curling out of the opening. Disgusting. I shook my head to rid myself of the image. It didn't really work. I looked ahead, Ellis now walking in front of me. The back of his shirt was wet with sweat. Damn heat. I got more interested as I saw his hands reach over his shoulders, and tug the Yellow Bullshifters over his head, and off his body. What a nice body it was indeed. I splurged and allowed my eyes to wander along the contours of Ellis' finely toned back. Probably becoming that way from working on a Farm. The way his shoulder blades moved as he walked, the dimples at the base of his back. I shook my head, and looked to the ground, kicking a can on the road to try and rid myself of the thoughts. Ellis looked back at me. I huffed and guided my hand through my hair._ Dammit. _

"Yuh ok Nick?" He was staring back at me, worry on his features. The others were looking at me too. **Great. **

"Uh, yeah sport. Just a little hot and annoyed." _**Liar.**_

~~~  
Sorry that this chapter is so short, I wanted to get _**SOMETHING**_**** out since it's been a while.  
Also, if I would have kept it it's original state, it would have been a very lengthy chapter.  
So here you go.  
I should have Chapter 5 out here in the next day(s) or so!  
Thanks again guys!


	5. Good Old Group Bonding

**~Chapter 5~**

The rest of the day seemed to go by as one big blur. I was still confused as to why there were practically no Infected stumbling the streets, but it seemed I had better things to worry about. Just when I thought the heat was going to be the most annoying thing to happen today, we meet up with _another _group of survivors in a park. There was mainly on who got on my nerves in particular. That damn grease ball Francis. He had to be the epicenter of all the things I hate most about people combined into one. Oh, and of course I get paired up with the guy on a supply run. Our little "_Groups_" I guess you could say decide it would be better to stay as one big pack. I had to agree that our chances of survival were a _little _better, but we didn't really _need_them per say. Anyways, I'm guessing the two girls of the group though it would be _cute _to have "Team Bonding" or some shit. What_ever._ So we were all paired with someone on the opposite group to check in different area's of the City for supply's. Me and Francis, Zoey and _Ellis_.. Bitch. Rochelle and Louis, and finally Coach and Bill. So, we all picked a place to meet after and how long we should be gone, then headed out. The beginning wasn't _so _bad. I mean, he didn't really talk much. Hey, don't get me wrong, I didn't _want _him to! Alas, all good things must come to an end right? A little later in the search he just wouldn't STOP talking. He was getting more and more annoying by the minute! I mean goddamn! I've never SEEN someone hate SO MANY things in my ENTIRE life! By the time we only had an hour left of searching, we already checked a few Stores and Gas Stations. We hadn't found much, but I mean I was happy for what we _did _find. Cigarettes. While checking through an abandoned warehouse is when we somehow stumbled upon the topic of who the better pick-up was. Obviously being me, but Francis just _insisted_ it was him. Bullshit.

"I could pick ANYONE up. Anytime, anywhere." I mumbled past an unlit Cigarette, rounding a corner to an empty storage unit, Francis fast on my heels. "I mean look at me! I'm a stunner!" I gestured to myself, and shot him one of my smoldering smirks. He just waved me off, and laughed.

"So you're telling me you can pick ANYONE up, and make them fall in love with you." He raised an accusing brow in my direction. We had stopped our search, and were now leaning against a wall taking a break.

I light my Cigarette, and looked at him from the corner of my eye, "That's EXACTLY what i'm saying."

"Anyone?" He crossed his arms, and pushed off the wall to stand in front of me.

"Anyone." I shrugged and took a long drag.

"Hmm.." He rubbed at the stubble on his chin. "How 'bout making a little bet them eh?" He smirked at me.

My ears practically perked at his words. "A bet? What _kind _of bet?" I raised a brow at him, suddenly more interested in this conversation.

"At the end of the month, when we go for rescue. If you can get anyone of _**my**_**** choosing to say they love you, and _really _mean it. I'll admit that you're the better pick-up." He shrugged.

This was just too easy! I nodded, "Alright. Does it count if I say it first, and they say it back?"

"No. They have to say it first."

I nodded, letting the rules sink in. "Ok.. So. Who's the lucky lady? Zoey? Rochelle?" I took one last drag, and threw the cancerous stick on the ground, stomping on it with my foot to extinguish the flame.

He chuckled at me. "Not quite.

I looked at him, slightly confused. "Them.. Who?"


	6. The Bet

**~Chapter 6~ **

His smirk only grew larger. I wanted to smack it off his smug ass face, becoming annoyed. "Are you going to fucking tell me or not?!"

Francis put his hands up defensibly. "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Cool your jets there princess, I was getting to that part." He put his hands down slowly, only to have that damn smirk return on his face. "The person you're going to swoon issss..." He smack his hands on the wall in a drum roll fashion. "The one. The only! Ellis!" He shot his imaginary finger pistols at me with a large grin on his face. Thinking i'd decline. Yeah right!  
Hell no, i'm not letting this jack ass grease ball think he's better than me!

I grinned and held my hand out for a shake. "Deal."

His eyes went wide, grin slowly fading from his face. "Wh-Wha-?"

"I said deal, are you going to shake my hand or not dumb-ass?"

Francis took my hand and shook it. "Fine. May the best man, that being me of course. Win."

I gripped his hand a bit, glaring him in the eye. "Not a chance."

~~~~  
Hey guys, sorry this is such a SHORT chapter, I wanted to get some stuff out because I have a feeling I won't be updating for a bit.  
But hey, something exciting happened right? Right? :D  
Welp, thanks for all the follows and reviews. It really helps me keep this thing going. So keep it up!


	7. Damn Near Close

Trying to charm Ellis is a tedious task.

The Kid just doesn't get it!  
You could literally hit him with a Train that said 'I'm flirting with you.' and her STILL wouldn't notice; but I wasn't about to give up yet.  
I was out to win, and win is Exactly what I'm going to do. So, I kept trying.  
At first I did subtle things like: tell him he made a good shot, or give him my pills when he needed them.  
I thought it was working too. He was talking to me more, walking next to me more. He would compliment me on my shots more too.  
This was good.  
So, I moved on to more notable things like: Picking him to be my partner on supply runs, I even started giving him the last health kit when I didn't have one. Hell, I gave him my Health kit! When I would use my Health pack on him, I'd use cheesy lines such as; "Let Doctor Nick fix you up," and "I'm only doing this for you." I would also let my hands linger in one spot longer than it should. Boy was it working alright! I finally started getting Ellis right where I wanted him.  
One night, It had just started snowing lightly when all of us were traveling to the next safe house. It wasn't too bad really, it beat the exhausting heat from before. We were walking through an old car tunnel, you could still smell fuel exhaust, and burnt rubber in the air. It was damp, and hardly lit, the only light coming from our own flashlights, and the old metal barrels lit with fire from; I'm assuming, the homeless that used to sleep in these tunnels at night for some cover. There wasn't much infected, we were lucky. We had finally made it to the end of the tunnel when we realized that it was indeed, a Blizzard. The pack stood there at the end, our warm breaths coming out in little puffs of smoke when it hit the freezing air. Zoey pulled out the binoculars she had stowed away, and peered through them, hoping to see where we were supposed to go. She scanned the horizon, and saw nothing but a small shimmer of red light, way down the snowy road. "There." She pulled down the binoculars, pointing. "I think that's where the next Safe house is." We all took turns passing the binoculars around, seeing where it is we were supposed to go.  
One by one we filed out, guns at the ready. It was hard to see, hard to hear, but we stayed close together; we didn't want to lose anyone. But, of corse, SOMEONE had to just go and RUIN EVERYTHING. We were walking along, everything was PERFECTLY normal, only about 1 or 2 Infected. But no, Louis just HAD to trip over a can, and he just HAD to fall face-first into a witch, and she just HAD to be startled! From there, it was all out comotion. Louis was down, being ripped to shreads by the witch, around him was Zoey, Bill, and Coach; trying to shoot her off of him. The rest of us were circled around the four, our backs turned to them, shooting the Hored that the witch attracted. While Coach, and Bill were helping Louis onto his feet, he yelled back to us, "Goddammit! We need to move, lets GO people!" In that instant Rochelle, and Francis turned and ran with the others, leaving Ellis and I to fend for ourselves, they didn't do it on purpose, they just didn't know we couldn't hear them; luckly, Ellis looked back and saw them running the opposite direction.

He grabbed my shoulder, pulling a bit, "C'mon Nick! We gotta get moving!" I glanced back a mumbled a bearly audiable 'Shit' under my breath, and started running too.  
Ellis and I were trailing pretty far behind, but we could still make it, the hord was fast on our heels. That's when things really went to hell. A charger, I couldn't tell where, but there was one. While we ran, and shot any Infected that got too close, I kept searching for it, it would be bad if he got one of us. Real bad.

A scream. For where? From who? Behind me? I froze. Ellis. I looked back, just as saw a charger run him down, carrying him away, I chase after it, unloading bullets into the damn thing. Then, It dissapeared. What the hell? I ran forward to where I last saw the thing with Ellis. I slipped, started tumbling down a snowy hill, I tried to get back to my feet, I hit the bottom, my Ancle must have twisted on its way down. Ellis, he was still screaming, blood littered the snow. I crawled forward, following the trail of snowy blood. There, I unloaded bullets into the big armed Infected, It went down.

"Ellis?" He didn't move. "Ellis, Kid, can you hear me?" I crawled over to his lifeless body.  
I swallowed hard, "El?" I shook him. Nothing. "C'mon El, Ellis?" I shook him harder. A cough, another, a small trail of blood dribbled from his mouth. He sat up, smiled, then whinced, holding his side in pain. I let out a breathy laugh, and let my forehead hit the snowy ground, "How in the fuck are you still alive kid?"

He let himself fall back into the snow, eyes closing, and laughing a bit. "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easy, did ya?"


	8. Bruising

Alone, we were alone.  
That night we found a Cabin.  
It wasn't anything fancy, It had one room, A small kitchen space, and a living room with a fire place.  
Thank god for that.  
The Cabin smelled of old pine, It was an off tan color, cozy really. Better than most of the safe rooms we had resigned in months before. I had gotten a Fire started , Ellis was sitting in front of it. He seemed cold, I mean there were some holes in the roof here and there, so the winter chill was flowing in. But it wasn't too bad. Bearable.  
I searched around the small Kitchen for food, water, supplies, anything really. Of course it came up empty. So, I decided to look around the rest of the Cabin. The floors creaked as you walked around, eerie. Again, nothing came up, except for one ratty old blanket that I found in a small closet.

We settled in, both of us by the fire, sitting on the ground in front of it. He hugged his legs, pulling them up to his chest to rest his chin on them, eyes sliding shut. I started taking off my health pack, and lightly tapped his thigh with the back of my hand. "Come on kid, shirt off."  
Ellis grumbled, one eye cracking open to look at me.

He shut it again, and let out a huff. "No."

I raised an eyebrow, "No? Excuse me?"

"I dun' feel like it."

Scoffing and shaking my head I said "You don't feel like it? Are you kidding me, Ellis? You probably have broken fucking ribs, and you wanna sit here and tell me no when I'm trying to help you?"

He whined, "I jus' wanna sleep, Nick."

I frowned, staring at him for a moment. "C'mon kid, lay back."  
Ellis' eyes opened, looking at me before he unfolded his legs, and went to lie on his back with a loud sigh. I crawled next to him with the health pack. "Alright, lets see what we got here," I began to raise his shirt. I pulled it up past his pecks, so I could get a good view of what I had to deal with. There was dark bruising on his right ribs, they were in the shape of the Chargers fat fingers. It seemed painful. I then shifted my positing to in between his legs, he didn't seem to mind much. One of his arms was draped over his eyes, his breathing a bit ragged, every once in a while coming out in a small wheeze.

I stared at the bruising a bit longer before I subconsciously ran my thumb over them, stroking lightly. Ellis winced, and let out a small whine. "D-Damn Nick, that hurts."

My eyes flicked up to his face, quickly removing my hands. I busied myself with getting the necessary supplies out of the pack. Some gauze, a few bandages, and some rubbing alcohol for the scrapes he also had on his body.

After what seemed like hours arguing and struggling with the kid, I finally got him bandaged up. I didn't know what time it was, all clocks stopped sometime during the beginning of the infection, but I'm sure it was late. Damn was it cold.

Ellis had fallen asleep with his head in my lap, I was too tired to care really. I let him have the blanket, my suit jacket was enough. For a while I just sat there in nearly complete silence. The only sounds being the harsh crack of the fire, Ellis' ragged breathing, and a few walkers moans as they stumbled around outside; soon falling to the snow and dying. It seemed like nothing could really survive out here. Did I mention it was cold?

I sighed, choosing the watch the kids face as he slept, he looked so.. Peaceful, so care free. Poor kid. I had my back propped against the bottom of the couch, one hand resting over top of Ellis' belly button, other stroking through his mop of brown curls. He didn't even know what was coming. You may look at me as a horrible person, I can't help it. It's how I was raised, how I learned to survive in this god forsaken world of ours;_ before_ everything turned to utter shit.

I soon drifted off into a restless sleep. No matter what, I was going to win this bet.

_ Sorry kid._


	9. Getting closer

"N-Nick!" Ellis threw his head back in a loud moan, sweat lining his brow as ragged pants escaped his plump lips. Nick could tell the boy was close, his thighs were trembling, nails scrawling paths down the conmans back. Nicks lips trails Ellis' jaw as he continued to rock into him, more screams and moans falling from the hicks mouth. "Nick! Nick!"

"Nick. Nick! C'mon man, wake up!"  
There was a firm grip on my shoulder, shaking me out of my exticitic dream. I jump, startled. "What? What? Where's the fire?" I ask, frantic before recieving a chuckle form Ellis. My eyes met his, that damn grin on his face.  
"Awh. Theres not a fire, Nick. 'm just hungry is all.." he mumbles as he scratched the back of his head, looking away sheepishly.

I roll my eyes, wincing a bit as I stand. I'm getting too old for this shit. To say I woke up in a bad mood would be an understatement. I was tired, hungry, and if waking up to a raging fucking boner wasn't something to be a bit peeved about; I'm not too sure what is. "What the hell do you want me to do about it?!" I snap, a little too harsh than intended. His face falls, eyes darting to the floor.

"Uh. N-Nothing. Sorry I mentioned anythin'" He mumbles out, messing with the hem of his shirt.

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. "No. No. I'm sorry." I normally never apologize. But, I have a bet to win. Thats why I did it. Right? I shuffle over to where my gun was proped up against the wall, first thing I do Is check for amunition. Shit. Of course we're running low. We've been stuck in this goddamn shack for days. I snap the clip shut with a little more force than needed, then look to Ellis. "Are you coming or what?"

Ellis looks at me, grin stretching over his face. "Yeah. Hell yeah I'm comin'!" he nods, jumping to his feet quickly; gun already in hand.

The sun was high in the sky. Everything was bright, too fucking bright. All the leaves had fallen off the trees, just to be covered by a thick blanket of snow. The forest looked bare and empty. It was quiet. A few chirping birds overhead and the crunch of the snow beneath our feet. Something I could actually consider peaceful. Surprisingly enough there were a few woodland creatures scurrying aroung. How the fuck are they still alive?  
Now, I have never gone hunting and Ellis being the stupid hick he was, I thought thats all he had time to do. Guess I was wrong, kid couldn't hit a squirrl if it was pinned to the ground!

"Son'ofa bitch!" Another one gone, goddammit.  
I give one of my treademark dramatic sighs before walking over to the kid. "Having some trouble?"  
His tongue was set heavily in his cheek, clearly annoyed. "Damn gun mus' be brokin'"

"Ellis, that is the most lame excuse I have ever heard." I sigh yet again for what seems like the 100th time that day before setting my gun down. "Here." Without even thinking, I come up behind him, arms wrapping around his muscular frame to show him how to old the gun and look down its scope. Hunting furry fucking creatures was a bit harder than the walking dead.

His face obviously heated up, I could feel it radiating off his cheek, mine practically pressed against his as I peered over his shoulder, chest pressed firmly against his back. "Like this?" Ellis peers down the scope out at the empty ground.  
I grin, nodding. "Perfect." Just then a plump rabbit hopped its way into view. "Ok." I whisper into his ear, breath hot against the kids neck. "Now, deep breath. Focus."

He nods and with a quick pull of the trigger and a loud crack, it went down. Not bad for his first time. A large grin spreads over Ellis' face as he looks at me, eyes bright. "Nick! Nick, did you see that man?! I did it!"

I couldn't help my smile, or the small chuckle that came after as I nod, playfully pulling his hat down over his eyes. "Nice job sport!"

We caught a few rabbits that night, eating our share by the fire. Ok, so maybe it wasn't that bad. Better than some of the shit we used to eat. After searching a few shacks we found some cans of creamed corn too, fuck it. It's food. We at in a peaceful silence with some small idle chatter. It was good, thought I'd never admit that.

I lean forward, asking for the kids pocketknife. He reluctantly hands it over. "What'cha doin'?"  
I pull one of the rabbits bodies off, making quick work with cutting off its foot. Ellis' face contorts in digust. "Why the hell'd you do that?"

After attaching the foot to some spare twine we had in our packs, I lower it around his neck. He looks up at me, confused. "It's a Rabbit foot." I state, obviously.

He nods, "Well, yeah. Why'am I wearin' it?" Ellis asks with a soft laugh.

"Rabbit foots are considered lucky. You have one and it'll give you good luck, protect you and shit." I explain with a shrug, leaning against the couch. Ellis smiles, gripping the foot gently as he stares down at it in his palm.  
After eating we chose to talk, well.. Ellis did. I mostly listened. He told me all about his family. His mom, brother, sister, bestfriend. Everything. No dad though, I chose not to pry. "So what 'bout you Nick? Got any family you're waiting to see at the camp?" he suddenly asks, picking some dirt from his nails with a knife. Oh great, flashback time.


End file.
